


Wanderlust

by htbthomas



Category: The Bold Type
Genre: Breaking Up & Making Up, Established Relationship, F/F, Future Fic, World Travel, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-19 08:44:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13120224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/htbthomas/pseuds/htbthomas
Summary: Kat's never seen the world, but it's best with the woman she loves by her side.





	Wanderlust

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Care](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Care/gifts).



> Thanks to Kindness for the beta!

Kat's feeling a burn in her calves, but it's a good burn. It's the kind of burn that washes away all other feelings except accomplishment. She's really doing this. She's really climbing the side of a mountain, a mountain on the other side of the world from where she grew up, looking out over a gorgeous view. 

And the view of the very nice buns of the woman she loves just ahead of her is just icing on the cake.

A laugh bubbles out of her. Who'd have thought she'd be doing this, even a week ago?

Adena turns back with a questioning smile. "What?"

"Oh, nothing," Kat tells her. "I'm just so happy. I'm in love and I'm in freakin' Iran and oh my _god_ this view is amazing!"

She sees that happiness reflected in Adena's eyes when she reaches for Kat's hand and squeezes it. "I agree." She nods her head toward the peak. "But we'd better get going if we want to reach the top before sundown. There's an even better view there."

"Oh, yeah, of course, of course. I can save some of this celebration for the top." She tightens her grip on Adena's hand and they keep going.

Adena's right. The view is spectacular from the top. Not least because of the woman by her side.

* * *

Kat glances over at the mountains in the distance. "Do you wish you were climbing those right now?" she asks.

Adena turns her head to look, briefly. "Not really. They're lovely, but I've climbed them before." After a moment, she stops flipping through the shots on her camera and looks into Kat's eyes. "Do you want to go? I think there's still time...?"

Kat shakes her head. "No, no. I was just thinking about that mountain we climbed in Iran a couple of years ago." In the two years they've been together, they've seen a dozen countries, lived for a time in a handful of them. It's exciting and scary and wonderful going to see all the places Adena's been to and loved. But... "I mean, New Zealand's fascinating..."

"But..."

"But," she continues, grinning to lighten the sentiment, "you've done it all before. Climbed that mountain, rafted that river, shopped in that street bazaar."

"Yes, but _you_ haven't. And I want to share it with you. It makes it all new again for me."

"Does it?" Sometimes Kat wonders if she isn't more like a child dragged along to once-loved sights, never quite appreciating them in the same way. She's been freelancing in addition to being _Scarlet_ 's travel reporter, so there should be a little cash on hand to do something interesting and different. She sits up, suddenly excited. "Let's go somewhere neither one of us has been."

"There are plenty of those, I assure you," Adena says. "As soon as I finish this phase of the project, we can—"

Kat's already opening an app on her phone. "Just pick a place at random. Someplace not too far to start. Oo. How about Tonga?"

Adena looks like she wants to argue, but then bites it back. "Okay."

* * *

Six months later, Kat's in Tokyo. Without Adena. Adena had been hired to cover the plight of refugees in the Middle East. Kat had offered to go with her, but Adena talked her out of it. "It's rough and dirty work."

"I can do rough and dirty," she'd argued. "I can report from the sidelines." So far the roughest they've gotten is staying in a couple of sketchy hostels, but it almost feels like Adena's afraid she'll have to take care of Kat the whole time. 

"There's no internet out there, Kat. There's hardly phone service."

She'd told Adena she didn't need these things—she wasn't the same spoiled New Yorker she'd been when they first met. She's been changed by the places they've been, the way Adena felt changed...

But in the end, Adena went to Syria and Kat went to Thailand. Months have gone by without a single word between them. And then _Scarlet_ needed someone to cover Fashion Week in Tokyo. Kat thinks about sending Adena her Shinjuku photos, or the selfie at the Tokyo Tower, but she doesn't. She shouldn't, even though she'd probably never get the text message anyway.

The upside in going to Tokyo is that she'll get to see Sutton (and Alex, thank god Sutton finally saw the light), and it's been too long. Jane might even get a break in her schedule to come out for a few days, too.

Still, she can't help but think what Tokyo would be like with Adena by her side. As she turns over in bed, tears staining the crisp pillowcase, she counts the hours until Sutton arrives. She could really use a good friend right now.

* * *

When she sees Adena—or someone who looks like Adena from the back—walking beside the Thames, Kat does a double-take. How long has it been? She doesn't actually need to do the mental math; it's been seven months, three days, and ten hours. And she doesn't really think it clearly because her feet are already breaking into a jog to catch up.

Then she stops. What if it's not Adena? She'll be scaring some random stranger for no reason. But then she gives herself a shake. What has she got to lose? She's leaving London tomorrow to go back to New York for a while—four years abroad and aimless has been enough. The last time she felt like she had a home was New York.

No. That's wrong. The last time she felt like she had a home was with Adena. Wherever they were together, that was home.

So she starts running again, flat out. "Adena!"

The woman doesn't turn. As Kat gets closer though, she's sure that it's her: same gait, camera strap around her neck, that gorgeous crimson scarf that's Kat's favorite...

"Adena!" she tries again, not slowing down.

But it isn't until Kat comes right up behind her and touches her gently on the arm that she turns. Quickly, one of her arms coming up in defense. 

Kat skips back out of reach. "Oh my god, I'm sorry, I forgot you hate that!" But she laughs, because it's Adena, it's Adena for real.

Adena finally seems to notice her then, her eyes widening as she takes a pair of earbuds out. "Kat?"

"Yeah! Hey!" Kat says, trying to catch her breath. "What are you doing in London?"

Adena's surprise is slowly turning to amusement, watching Kat trying to act casual. "Just passing through, really. I'm on my way to France tomorrow."

"Oh? Really?" Kat knows she's shifting from foot to foot, but she doesn't care. "You're finally going back?"

"I think it's been enough years, enough for the memories to fade anyway." Her eyes get distant for a moment, but she closes them and then focuses back on Kat. "What are _you_ doing in London?"

"Just work stuff." She doesn't want to get into it. "I'm actually leaving tomorrow, too. What're the odds?"

"Pretty crazy," Adena says. She glances over her shoulder at the horizon, where the sun is starting to turn hazy as it dips below. "Well, I guess—"

"I get it," Kat interrupts. "You've got someplace to be, probably someone to go with, I just wanted to come say hi." She turns away before Adena can see the tears springing up. Her hotel has a damn good bar, anyway—

Adena catches her wrist in a strong grip. "Kat..."

"Um. What?" She hates that the last word breaks as it comes out.

Adena gives her wrist a sharp tug, and then Kat is twirling into her arms, kissing her before she even realizes what is happening. Then when she does realize, she never wants to stop.

"There's no one else," Adena murmurs when she finally pulls back. It's almost dark now, the sun completely below the horizon.

"I—I think I got that," Kat says with a sniffling laugh. 

Adena shivers. It's suddenly cold now that the sun has gone down. "Do you want coffee?"

Kat wants a lot more than that, but... "To start with."

* * *

"Bring it in, girls!" Kat calls out, pulling Jane and Sutton into a giggling hug. "We did it! Kicking ass and taking names in—"

"Work!" Jane cries.

"Life!" Sutton shouts next.

"And love!" Kat finishes. She blows a kiss over to Adena, who is smoking hot in her wedding dress. And so is Kat in hers, with the way that Adena grabbed her and pulled her into a so-not-for-public-consumption kiss when she first saw her in it. And it's amazing to be sharing it all with her very best friends, who've stayed close even through these years of wanderlust. "And long before we hit forty, too!" The three of them raise their glasses to toast.

Sutton knocks hers back, and then nudges Kat in the arm. "But did you have to show us all up by having your wedding on the freakin' French Riviera?"

"Yeah," Jane agrees. "That's a little over the top, even for you."

"Oh, come on, you know you would have done the exact same thing if you'd thought of it."

Jane and Sutton look at each other with almost an identical wry quirk of the lips. "She's got us there," Jane says.

"Yeah, can't disagree." Sutton looks thoughtful. "And honeymooning in Monaco, too. I think you _did_ steal that idea from me, back when we were all at _Scarlet_..."

They argue and laugh into the night, Adena watching the three of them with an indulgent smile. In the morning, they'll check another country off the list. Only a hundred and fifty more to go.


End file.
